ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite Version 7.5

This release note provides information on the latest posting of AMD's industry leading software suite, Catalyst™. This particular software suite updates both the AMD Display Driver, and the Catalyst™ Control Center. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst™ software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.

The Catalyst™ software driver and the Catalyst™ Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same Catalyst™ release

Caution:

The Catalyst™ Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 2.0 installed, the Catalyst™ Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

AMD Product Support

The Catalyst™ Vista driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system is supported on the following ATI Radeon™ products.

AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP

ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT

ATI Radeon™ X800 series

ATI Radeon™ X1950 series

ATI Radeon™ X700 series

ATI Radeon™ X1900 series

ATI Radeon™ X600 series

ATI Radeon™ X1800 series

ATI Radeon™ X550 series

ATI Radeon™ X1650 series

ATI Radeon™ X300 series

ATI Radeon™ X1600 series

ATI Radeon™ 9800 series

ATI Radeon™ X1550 series

ATI Radeon™ 9700 series

ATI Radeon™ X1300 series

ATI Radeon™ 9600 series

ATI Radeon™ X1050 series

ATI Radeon™ 9500 series

ATI Radeon™ X850 series

AMD Multimedia Family Product Support for both Windows Vista and XP

ATI All-in-Wonder® X1900 Series

ATI All-in-Wonder™ X600 Series

ATI All-in-Wonder® X1800 Series

ATI Theater™ 550 PRO

ATI All-in-Wonder® 2006 Edition

ATI All-in-Wonder® 9800 Series

ATI All-in-Wonder™ X800 Series

ATI All-in-Wonder™ 9600 Series

Note:

ATI All-In-Wonder™ and VIVO variants listed above are supported in the display driver only under the Windows Vista operating system.

Note:

The capture driver for these products installed on systems running Windows Vista is not being updated at this time

AMD Chipset Product Support

ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1250 Series

ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1150 Series

ATI Radeon™ X1250 Series

ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1100 Series

ATI Radeon™ X1200 Series

ATI Radon™ Xpress 200 Series

Operating systems supported

The latest version of the Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit versions)

Windows XP Professional

Windows XP Home Edition

Windows XP Media Center Edition (graphics driver support only)

Note:

When installing the Catalyst™ Vista driver for Windows Vista, the user must logged on as an Administrator or have Administrator rights in order to successfully complete the installation of the Catalyst™ Vista driver.

Caution:

Once the driver installation is completed under the Vista operating system (32 and 64 bit), the driver log file may report that the ATI T200 Unified AVStream Driver failed to install. A reboot of the operating system resolves the issue.

New Features

This release of Catalyst™ introduces the ATI DirectX 10 driver for the Radeon™ HD 2900 XT, for both single cards and CrossFire™ configurations. The ATI DirectX 10 driver used in combination with the Radeon™ HD 2900 XT (and an application designed to take advantage of the power of the DirectX 10 API) delivers incredible graphics effects never seen before on the PC.

Performance Improvements

OpenGL performance is improved on the ATI Radeon™ X1950 XTX at high resolutions (1920x1200 or greater) with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled. Doom 3 and Quake 4 improves as much as 13-18%, and Prey improves at least 15.6%. The ATI Radeon™ X1950 Pro and X1650 XT also sees improvements in Doom 3 and Quake 4 of up to 14.1% at higher resolutions with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled.

ATI's Folding@Home

Folding@Home is a distributed computing project designed by the Stanford University. The application performs intensive simulations of protein folding. This simulation will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop. Folding@Home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding, the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed across hundreds of thousands of computers over the internet. You can help find the cure to many different diseases! To join Folding@Home, follow these steps:

If you do not have an ATI Radeon™ X1600 or higher, then download the CPU client.If you have an ATI Radeon™ X1600 or higher, download the GPU client (either console or GUI version) not to be confused with the CPU "Graphical client".

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating
System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

Doom3/Quake 4: Setting the in game options for Video Quality to Medium and Screen Size to 1024x768 no longer results in display corruption being noticed when setting AA to 4x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25802

IL2 Sturmovik->Forgotten Battles: Setting the in-game hardware options to custom and landscape detail to perfect no longer results in the water textures appearing corrupt when playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26687

Lego Star Wars II: Starting a new game and walking outside through any of the doors available no longer results in flickering/flashing being noticed during the fade transition. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27454

Quake 4/Serious Sam: Attempting to launch the games with AA set to 2x or higher and the Catalyst™ Control Center->Advanced View->3D preview running in the background no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26690

A Fatal Uninstall Error of ATI Catalyst™ Install Manager is no longer experienced on some hardware configurations running Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27083

Catalyst™ Control Center: The Content Viewing selection for Component Video is no longer blank in the Basic view when using only an HDMI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27084

CrossFire™: The text and buttons found in the CrossFire™ disable warning message are no longer cropped in all supported languages excluding English. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27085

Switching between users with Catalyst™ Control Center->Color aspect open, no longer incorrectly enables the Reactivate ATI Color controls button on some hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27086

In the Catalyst™ Control Center, a blank page is no longer seen in the basic view when changing extended desktop to clone mode with CRT and SDTV connected on some ASIC families. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27088

In the Catalyst™ Control Center the localization "Select a Skin" window page is now localized with the appropriate languages on some hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27087

Enabling CrossFire™ no longer automatically enables 'Triple Buffering' and disables 'Support DXT texture format' in 3D->More Settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27090

The position of the TV as reported by the Catalyst™ Control Centre when switching from underscan to overscan no longer differs between the operating systems Windows XP and Windows Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27079

Mode changes including extending the desktop is no longer observed to be extremely slow with two monitors attached and enabled on the ATI Radeon™ X1800 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27080

Overlay Theater Mode no longer fails under the conditions that the desktop is extended to a secondary display on ATI Radeon™ X1300/X1550 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27082

On some hardware configurations the Catalyst™ Control Center "Content Viewing selection for Component Video" page is no longer blank in the Basic view when using only an HDMI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27452

Switching between users with Catalyst™ Control Center->Color aspect open, no longer incorrectly enables the "Reactivate ATI Color controls" button on some hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27086

An error message is no longer displayed when disabling CrossFire™ under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27453

Catalyst™ Control Center: Attempting to change the Core clock settings within the Overdrive™ aspect no longer results in the new setting failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27455

WinDVD8: Enabling hardware acceleration no longer results in corruption being noticed during video playback. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27616

Using Windows Media Player 11 to play an MPEG file using HDMI audio on a system running Windows Vista no longer results in file not playing properly if swapping the primary and secondary display devices. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27617

Mode changes including extending the desktop is no longer observed to be extremely slow with two monitors attached and enabled on the ATI Radeon™ X1800 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27456

Playing HD DVD content followed by attempting to hot unplug a display device and then hot-plugging the same display device to a different port no longer results in the HD DVD playback failing to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27618

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

Call of Duty: An error message no longer appears when task switching between the game and the Windows desktop. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26750

Just Cause: The game no longer fails to run cinematic at 1600x1200 game resolution on ATI Radeon™ X1200/1250/1270 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27093

Installing an ATI Radeon™ X1900 CrossFire™ Master and X1900 slave under Windows XP no longer results in AA settings failing to be retained when rebooting the system. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25808

Uninstalling the graphics drivers no longer results in some of the files and folder failing to be removed in the Program File folder. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23715

When operated from the Start Menu->All Programs->Catalyst™ Control Center, the Catalyst™ Control Center no longer fails to display the expected choices Catalyst™ Control Center->Wizard and Catalyst™ Control Center->Advanced on some hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27096

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating
System

This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst™ Vista RTM driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. These include:

Homeworld2: Setting the game options to default and starting a single player game may result in display corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26692

Never Winter Nights->Undrentide: Enter the Advanced Video Options within the game may result in the inability to enable the Shiny Water option. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27462

NHL 07: The in-game display settings may fail to be applied when playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system when using a supported ATI Radeon™ product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23549

X-Plane: Playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system may result in display corruption being noticed when using an ATI Radeon™ X1900/1950 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25522

In the Catalyst™ Control Center, the Help buttons drop down box appear towards left side of the window instead of right side for some languages on certain hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27089

Playing a DVD under the Windows Vista operating system using the Windows Media Player may result in the DVD failing to play when switching between display devices using the hot-key function. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24472. Fixed in 8.39

Resuming from an S3 state may result in a longer than expected time for the Windows Vista operating system to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25798

Hot-plugging a CRT to a system running Windows Vista and containing an ATI Radeon™ X1100/1150 series of product may result in extended desktop mode failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25801

The desktop shortcut to the Catalyst™ Control Center may disappear after performing a Windows Anytime Upgrade on some hardware configurations running Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27078

On some hardware configurations the CIM video driver installer lists The Catalyst™ Install Manager and Microsoft Visual C++ among components of the Component Selection Menu whereas these should not appear since they are mandatory and not optional. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27081

Enabling CrossFire™ followed by disconnecting and then reconnecting the CRT display device may result in duplicate video options being seen within the Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27457

Catalyst™ Control Center->OverDrive™: The OverDrive™ setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805

The OverDrive™ clocks may fail to revert back to the default settings and the Apply and Discard buttons may not become enabled when changing the clock settings for both the primary and secondary display devices. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27619

Enabling CrossFire™ followed by setting AA to 14x and AF to 16x may result in the AA showing a setting of 0x level when disabling CrossFire™ and unchecking the AA option in the 3D aspect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27458

Making changes to the Color aspect found in the Catalyst™ Control Center without applying the changes may result in the Reactivate ATI color controls button remaining active after the Catalyst™ Control Center is closed and then re-launched. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27459

The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 and time shifting is enabled. Further information can be found in topic number 737-22014

A blank screen may be displayed after unchecking all the Component Video formats except when the 480i30 custom mode is applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27620

Enabling CrossFire™ followed by setting the Overdrive™ clocks to their maximum settings may result in the Catalyst™ Control Center failing to accurately report the requested Overdrive™ values. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27621

Connecting a secondary display device and enabling extended desktop mode may result in changes being made to the secondary display device being reflected on the primary display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27460

After installing the ATI display driver and Catalyst™ Control Center the display driver may not be listed in the installed components. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27461

The desktop shortcut to the Catalyst™ Control Center may disappear after performing a Windows Anytime Upgrade on some hardware configurations running Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27078

A green or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSC mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27622

Playing a DVD using either WinDVD or PowerDVD may result in corruption being noticed if the players is rotated to any position other than landscape. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27463

Setting the Avivo Video De-interlacing setting to auto, motion adaptive or vector adaptive may result in certain DVDs, menu videos and some special features failing to benefit from the options. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27196

Installing the display driver under the Windows Vista operating system may result in the display resolutions of 1680x1050, 1800x1440, 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 not being available when using an analog CRT display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27464

Running through the un-install of the ATI display driver may result in the display driver failing to be completely removed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27466

Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating
System

The following section provides a summary of open issues in the latest version of Catalyst™. These include:

Armed Assault: Handle count leak maybe noticed during game play in Task Manager. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27467

Homeworld 2: The application may fail to run when CrossFire™ is enabled and an Anti-Aliasing setting of greater than 2 is selected on certain ATI Radeon™ X1800 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27094

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide may show dithering corruption on the loading screen(s) with Anisotropic Filtering enabled on certain graphics families. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27095

Starwars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Setting the in-game display option to low settings may result in corruption being noticed within the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25173

Enabling CrossFire™ may result in display corruption being noticed when playing a DVD or media clip using either WinDVD 7, Windows Media Player or PowerDVD 6. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22806

Catalyst™ Control Center->Overdrive™: The OverDrive™ setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805

Launching the release notes under the Japanese or Chinese version of Windows may result in the release notes displaying a blank page. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26749. Planned Release 8.39

Some pixilated corruption may be observed while running the game Prey while hovering over the health packs from a distance on some hardware configurations running Win XP. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27091

The system may become unresponsive and require a reboot while randomly moving Video Player window from primary to extended desktop under certain hardware configurations where the second adapter is an ATI Radeon™ X1200/1250/1270 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27092. Planned Release 8.38

Connecting two display devices to an ATI Radeon™ X1600 series product may result in the device manager failing to detect the secondary display device. Further information may be found in topic number 737-21266

Corruption may be noticed when playing certain DVD titles when hardware acceleration is enabled on ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27624

For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.

Installing the Catalyst™ Vista Software Driver

AMD Customer Care

The AMD Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and ease of navigation. The AMD Customer Care website provides accurate and up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance user experience. The AMD Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com

To view a known issue or find troubleshooting information, do the following: